Public Awareness
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
In April 2022, OVC sponsored the annual commemoration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW).
The 2022 NCVRW theme was Rights, access, equity, for all victims, which underscores the importance of helping crime survivors find their justice by—
- enforcing victims' rights,
- expanding access to services, and
- ensuring equity and inclusion for all.
For many years, as part of the national NCVRW commemoration, OVC hosted a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to crime victims and those who advocate on their behalf, and an awards ceremony to honor individuals and organizations for their work serving crime victims and advancing the rights of victims.
The candlelight vigil was last held in 2011 until NCVRW 2022. In honor of what many in the victim services field considered the 50th anniversary of the genesis of the field, OVC once again held a candlelight vigil on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on April 26, 2022. OVC Director Kristina Rose presided over the event, where attendees heard from survivors of crime through video recordings, with musical accompaniment by the American Pops Orchestra, and Aswad Thomas, the National Director of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. The vigil closed near sundown with a moment of silence to honor all crime victims.
The 2022 NCVRW Resource Guide—a suite of user-friendly sample materials and other resources, professional artwork, and guidance to help communities implement public awareness campaigns on victims’ rights and services—received more than 300,000 unique page views. Additionally, 50 communities received Community Awareness Project grants of up to $5,000 each to conduct public education and awareness activities on crime victims’ rights and services in their jurisdictions during NCVRW.
Social Media Presence
In FY 2021, OVC focused its social efforts on reaching new individuals interested in victims’ rights and services through product- or initiative-specific campaigns, like those for the new Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center website, the new Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials product, and the 2021 and 2022 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW) campaigns.
In reviewing the Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials campaign, OVC’s social efforts generated a total organic reach of 18,427 through Facebook, and 32,303 impressions on Twitter across FY 2021 and FY 2022. The 2021 NCVRW campaign generated an 80 percent increase in reach (58,322 total reach).
The social media campaigns for NCVRW 2021 contributed to a Facebook reach of 301,563 (362.5 percent increase from 2020) and 15,204 engagements (a 1,400 percent increase from 2020), and a 900 percent Twitter increase in impressions (615,889) and 439 percent increase in engagements (814). Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic during FY 2021, OVC also made it a priority to focus its efforts on a large virtual attendance for its NCVRW events which resulted in 7,169 YouTube views and 678 video shares.
Of note for the NCVRW 2022 social media campaign is that OVC included outreach to educators and school counselors for the first time. The role of social media in OVC’s overall website engagements during the 2022 NCVRW campaign timeframe increased from 8.4 percent (2021) to 13.5 percent (2022).
OVC Launches Monthly “From the Director’s Desk” Briefings
On September 8, 2022, OVC launched its “From the Director’s Desk” monthly briefing, held the second Thursday of every month. This briefing is an opportunity for the Director to speak directly to the field about OVC programs and initiatives to improve options, access, and information for all crime victims and survivors. This briefing is a field-generated idea originating at a meeting OVC had with advocates who expressed their concerns about the solvency of the CVF. The Director uses this platform to be transparent about the current balance of the CVF and recent deposits, as well as other important updates and news.
OVC created a new web page to host “From the Director’s Desk” content and marketed the briefing via a website announcement, email to News From OVC subscribers, and Twitter and Facebook posts. There were 119 participants for the live call and 222 unique page views to the “From the Director’s Desk” web page through September 30, 2022. After the event concluded, a recording was posted to the OVC YouTube channel. As of May 5, 2023, 242 individuals listened to the recording.
Public Recognition
In FY 2022, OVC received several Communicator Awards. These honors are awarded through the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, which consists of an international group of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative, and marketing firms. OVC received these accolades for the following products:
- Award of Distinction in the category of Collateral: Causes & Awareness for the artwork in the 2021 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide.
- Award of Excellence in the category of Branded Content: Individual │Microsite for Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials.
- Award of Distinction in the category of Marketing/Promotion: Collateral | Special Event for the artwork in the 2022 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide.